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Fast Money & Foreign Objects
By JON HURDLE and EMMA G. FITZSIMMONSAPRIL 22, 2014
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District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman on Tuesday displayed some of the items seized during the investigation. Credit Clem Murray/The Philadelphia Inquirer, via Associated Press
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HAVERFORD, Pa. — Boldly describing their enterprise as the “Main Line Take Over Project,” two former students of a private school in this affluent suburb of Philadelphia took on an ambitious business venture, prosecutors said.
The goal: control the marijuana trade at local high schools and colleges in the picturesque, wealthy corridor of towns known as the Main Line.
They enlisted local students to act as dealers, pushing them to sell at least one pound of marijuana a week, prosecutors said. During an investigation into the operation this year, detectives seized marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy and several weapons, including a loaded assault rifle and a semiautomatic pistol, according to the Montgomery County district attorney’s office.
On Monday, prosecutors announced the arrests of eight people on charges of distributing drugs in five public and private high schools and in three Pennsylvania colleges. They identified the main drug suppliers as Neil K. Scott, 25, a 2008 graduate of the $35,000-a-year Haverford School, and Timothy C. Brooks, 18, a 2013 Haverford graduate. Both men had played lacrosse for the school and had returned home to the Main Line after leaving college, prosecutors said. Mr. Scott dropped out of Connecticut College after being penalized for using marijuana, prosecutors said, and Mr. Brooks left the University of Richmond in Virginia after one semester.
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Timothy C. Brooks Credit Office of Montgomery County District Attorney, via Associated Press
Prosecutors said that the marijuana was shipped in bulk to Mr. Scott from a supplier in California. Mr. Brooks allegedly told the dealers that it was important to make sure there was a constant supply of marijuana in each school because he remembered it was not always easy to buy marijuana when he was in high school.
“Parents across our community have chosen to send their children to these schools and colleges because they are some of the finest institutions of learning in the United States,” District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said in a statement. “These drug dealers, motivated by their own greed, sought to create a network to push poison into our educational institutions and take over drug distribution on the Main Line.”
On Tuesday, local school officials were reviewing their drug policies and determining whether to step up efforts to educate students about the dangers of drug abuse.
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Neil K. Scott Credit Office of Montgomery County District Attorney, via Associated Press
The headmaster of Haverford School, John Nagl, said in an interview that he was “shocked and appalled” by the charges and would re-examine the school’s drug policy.
“We will make sure that something like this never, ever happens again,” he said, adding that it was too early to say how the drug policy, which includes expulsion for drug distribution, might change.
Mr. Nagl suggested that drug use at his school was not widespread, noting that prosecutors said one of those charged, Daniel Robert McGrath, 18, a student there, had sold only about $40 to $50 of drugs a week.
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Mr. Brooks and Mr. Scott are both graduates of the $35,000-a-year Haverford School. Credit Mark Makela for The New York Times
“We didn’t believe we had a significant problem, and we honestly still don’t believe we have a significant problem,” Mr. Nagl said.
On the wooded campus of Haverford College, Dan Schwartz, 21, a junior, described the college authorities as being “relatively lax about marijuana.” Although the elite college’s policy is that students should not take any illegal drugs, it recognizes that its students are adults and that it cannot control every aspect of their lives, Mr. Schwartz said.
“Their first and foremost policy is always ‘Be safe,’ ” he said. “If you have a drug problem, the school will not seek to punish you, it will seek to help you.”
In the nearby Lower Merion School District, a public school system where one suspect allegedly sold drugs, the drug policy has zero tolerance for even the smallest quantity of marijuana, said the district spokesman, Doug Young. He said offenders would be suspended immediately, or might be expelled, depending on the severity of the offense.
But he said the district might step up its efforts to educate students about the dangers of drug use. He described the district’s exposure to the charges as “a call to action that we can be doing more to support better decision-making.”
Still, he said, “The reality is that it’s virtually impossible to prevent every student from making poor choices.”
Jon Hurdle reported from Haverford, and Emma G. Fitzsimmons from New York.
A version of this article appears in print on April 23, 2014, on page A11 of the New York edition with the headline: Prosecutors Describe a Bold Drug Enterprise at Affluent Pennsylvania Schools. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/u...icmst=1388552400000&bicmet=1420088400000&_r=2
Photo
District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman on Tuesday displayed some of the items seized during the investigation. Credit Clem Murray/The Philadelphia Inquirer, via Associated Press
Continue reading the main story Share This Page
HAVERFORD, Pa. — Boldly describing their enterprise as the “Main Line Take Over Project,” two former students of a private school in this affluent suburb of Philadelphia took on an ambitious business venture, prosecutors said.
The goal: control the marijuana trade at local high schools and colleges in the picturesque, wealthy corridor of towns known as the Main Line.
They enlisted local students to act as dealers, pushing them to sell at least one pound of marijuana a week, prosecutors said. During an investigation into the operation this year, detectives seized marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy and several weapons, including a loaded assault rifle and a semiautomatic pistol, according to the Montgomery County district attorney’s office.
On Monday, prosecutors announced the arrests of eight people on charges of distributing drugs in five public and private high schools and in three Pennsylvania colleges. They identified the main drug suppliers as Neil K. Scott, 25, a 2008 graduate of the $35,000-a-year Haverford School, and Timothy C. Brooks, 18, a 2013 Haverford graduate. Both men had played lacrosse for the school and had returned home to the Main Line after leaving college, prosecutors said. Mr. Scott dropped out of Connecticut College after being penalized for using marijuana, prosecutors said, and Mr. Brooks left the University of Richmond in Virginia after one semester.
Photo
Timothy C. Brooks Credit Office of Montgomery County District Attorney, via Associated Press
Prosecutors said that the marijuana was shipped in bulk to Mr. Scott from a supplier in California. Mr. Brooks allegedly told the dealers that it was important to make sure there was a constant supply of marijuana in each school because he remembered it was not always easy to buy marijuana when he was in high school.
“Parents across our community have chosen to send their children to these schools and colleges because they are some of the finest institutions of learning in the United States,” District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said in a statement. “These drug dealers, motivated by their own greed, sought to create a network to push poison into our educational institutions and take over drug distribution on the Main Line.”
On Tuesday, local school officials were reviewing their drug policies and determining whether to step up efforts to educate students about the dangers of drug abuse.
Photo
Neil K. Scott Credit Office of Montgomery County District Attorney, via Associated Press
The headmaster of Haverford School, John Nagl, said in an interview that he was “shocked and appalled” by the charges and would re-examine the school’s drug policy.
“We will make sure that something like this never, ever happens again,” he said, adding that it was too early to say how the drug policy, which includes expulsion for drug distribution, might change.
Mr. Nagl suggested that drug use at his school was not widespread, noting that prosecutors said one of those charged, Daniel Robert McGrath, 18, a student there, had sold only about $40 to $50 of drugs a week.
Photo
Mr. Brooks and Mr. Scott are both graduates of the $35,000-a-year Haverford School. Credit Mark Makela for The New York Times
“We didn’t believe we had a significant problem, and we honestly still don’t believe we have a significant problem,” Mr. Nagl said.
On the wooded campus of Haverford College, Dan Schwartz, 21, a junior, described the college authorities as being “relatively lax about marijuana.” Although the elite college’s policy is that students should not take any illegal drugs, it recognizes that its students are adults and that it cannot control every aspect of their lives, Mr. Schwartz said.
“Their first and foremost policy is always ‘Be safe,’ ” he said. “If you have a drug problem, the school will not seek to punish you, it will seek to help you.”
In the nearby Lower Merion School District, a public school system where one suspect allegedly sold drugs, the drug policy has zero tolerance for even the smallest quantity of marijuana, said the district spokesman, Doug Young. He said offenders would be suspended immediately, or might be expelled, depending on the severity of the offense.
But he said the district might step up its efforts to educate students about the dangers of drug use. He described the district’s exposure to the charges as “a call to action that we can be doing more to support better decision-making.”
Still, he said, “The reality is that it’s virtually impossible to prevent every student from making poor choices.”
Jon Hurdle reported from Haverford, and Emma G. Fitzsimmons from New York.
A version of this article appears in print on April 23, 2014, on page A11 of the New York edition with the headline: Prosecutors Describe a Bold Drug Enterprise at Affluent Pennsylvania Schools. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/u...icmst=1388552400000&bicmet=1420088400000&_r=2
